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information is shared regularly and kept up to date. Where a government department like the DHS is involved, as either a carer or guardian of a child or children, schools should ensure that the department is treated as a parent or carer would be, and provided with the same information and opportunities for updates regarding a child’s progress. subpoenas While it’s a rare occurrence, school representatives such as the principal or classroom teacher will occasionally be subpoenaed by a party to a Family Court proceeding in relation to a dispute over custody or guardian ship of a student. Subpoenas are court enforceable documents and failure to comply may be a contempt of court. If you do not comply with a subpoena, a warrant can be issued for your arrest. For a subpoena to be effectively served, it must be served prior to a specified date and generally in enough time to allow the recipient to comply with the subpoena. A subpoena can be for the production of documents such as a student’s records, or to appear and give evidence, or both. The subpoena must be served together with conduct money, which is enough money for a person to reasonably comply with the subpoena by delivering documents to court or attending court in person. The subpoena must be served on the person named in the subpoena by personal service, that is, a person serving the subpoena must attend and confirm the identity of the recipient before passing the document to them. You should obtain legal advice if you receive a subpoena, particularly where documents are being sought. Original documents are generally sought, not copies, but prior to handing over documents, it’s important to ensure that other children or family members are not named in the documents provided to the court in order not to breach privacy restrictions. It may be that documents need to be heavily redacted – irrelevant sections blacked out – prior to being delivered to the court. An alternative to this is that documents are not redacted, but are provided to the court in a sealed envelope and provided on the basis of only being for the judge’s eyes. The costs of compliance, including reason- able legal costs, are generally recoverable, but how do you go about recovering legal costs and your school’s internal costs associated with compliance? Generally, a letter is written to the party issuing the subpoena, after compliance, making a claim for costs. If the claim cannot be resolved, an application to the court can be made to try to recover some of the costs of compliance, so it’s important that you maintain good records in relation to the costs expended in complying with the subpoena, including how much time is spent collating and copying documents. It’s not usual that subpoenaed persons or parties will recover all of their costs, but generally, if the expenses have been reasonably incurred, the majority of costs incurred will be recoverable. If a member of your staff is subpoenaed, it’s important to find out what the case is about in order that the staff member knows what kinds of question are going to be asked. If the issue relates to the care and safety of a child, for example, the staff member is likely to be asked questions to do with involvement with the parents or guardians on a day-to-day basis and how the child presents on a day-to-day basis in the classroom. In all instances, attention should be given immediately to complying with the subpoena in a timely fashion, as usually the compliance date for subpoenas is short. Issues also arise concerning the stress staff members may face when issued with a subpoena. You should ensure that your school provides the necessary support to the recipient of the subpoena. It’s important to note that if any teachers hold concerns about the safety or wellbeing of children, they should report those concerns to the relevant government department such as, in Victoria, the DHS. Advice Issues of children’s welfare and family arrangements are often fraught with emotion and, in many cases, communicating with parents in dispute can be challenging. Schools should make it a priority to ensure that they have up-to-date and accurate information regarding carers for children, and any special arrangements that affect certain children. Schools need to ensure that all relevant information is passed on to the appropriate people, including parents, guardians, carers and, where applicable, the relevant government department. Schools should know who the relevant people are and, where applicable, keep up-to-date court orders on students’ records. To ensure that children’s needs are pri- oritised, schools should endeavour to work together with parents in all circumstances, but particularly where parents are no longer together. Open dialogue and a regular exchange of information ensures that parents and schools alike have the most current, relevant information, and that interruptions to the child’s day-to-day life are minimised. In the event that relations are strained between parents, schools should work extra hard to minimise any impact on the children. T *In the Australian Capital Territory, this is the Children and Young People Act 2008; in New South Wales, this is the Children and Young Persons (Care and Protection) Act 1998; in the Northern Territory, this is the Community Welfare Act 2008 and the Care and Protection of Children 2007; in Queensland, this is the Child Protection Act 1999; in South Australia, this is the Children’s Protection Act 1993; in Tasmania, this is the Children, Young Persons and their Families Act 1997; and in Western Australia, this is the Children and Community Services Act 2004. The Commonwealth Family Law Act 1975 is also relevant for this area of law. Leneen Forde is a partner at Cornwall Stodart Lawyers in Melbourne. Jennifer Holdstock is a senior associate at Cornwall Stodart Lawyers. For further information, phone 03 9608 2000. LINKS: www.cornwalls.com.au leadership 55